Cristian Vrînceanu (born 15 April 1956), commonly known as Chris Vranceanu, is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n former football striker. He was part of Romania's national team in a tournament in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, but did not play in any game as he ran away from the team's cantonment, in order to escape from

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

. After finishing his soccer career in the United States, he moved to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, where he still resides today.

Honours

Dinamo București *

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

: 1974–75, 1976–77 New York Croatia *

Cosmopolitan Soccer League The Cosmopolitan Soccer League is a regional soccer league consisting of semi-pro and amateur teams based in and around New York City. Established in 1923, it is one of the oldest soccer leagues in the United States and has contributed greatl ...

: 1985–86

References

1956 births Living people Romanian men's footballers Romania men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players FC Dinamo București players FC Corvinul Hunedoara players Buffalo Stallions players Footballers from Bucharest Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Cosmopolitan Soccer League players Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Romanian defectors 20th-century Romanian sportsmen {{Romania-footy-forward-1950s-stub